Arrow Season 7: 4 Ups & 1 Down From ‘My Name Is Emiko Queen’

3. Revisiting The Past

While the new Green Arrow has been a presence on the show since the beginning of the season, she was never really a character until now. As a result, the showrunners decided to mark an occasion as monumental as the birth of a new Green Arrow by paying tribute to the birth of the original one. So, as you might have noticed, there were a ton of neat little Arrow Easter Eggs cleverly placed throughout the midseason premiere.

From Emiko's opening monologue to her wounded spiral out the window, and let's not forget the fact that she turned to her closest ally for help, the entire episode was like a love letter to Arrow's first season as she went through a series of events similar to the ones that Oliver endured during his debut year as 'The Hood'.

Moreover, as Oliver delved through his father's past in a bid to find out more about Emiko, Blake Neely's melancholic score from Season 1 played in the background and it was all rather emotional - and that was before we even heard Robert Queen's voice.

All in all, this was a rather touching way for the showrunners to pay homage to the past and ultimately allow it to introduce us to the future. Well played Arrow, well played.